After I play through a program or a piece for someone (as a step in preparing for public performance), I don't return to the piano to practice. It can be difficult, if something went badly and I want to work on it. But the separation -- practicing for the real concert by preserving the "non-take-twoness" of the performing experience -- matters most. I've read of Busoni returning to the hall to play through an entire concert after the audience … [Read more...]
Costly Imitation
As I listen to others play the piano, as I eat, or walk down the sidewalk -- all I think of is the passage of music I struggled with yesterday, a passage I have been playing at least for 25 years. I consider it from many angles, rolling it over in my mind. To be completely cognizant and conscious of every detail in a complicated scripted piece that's played by memory is to be safe. Is it after all a misguided act? To reprise these … [Read more...]